Many of agency's top jobs weren't publicly posted

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, backed by state and local elected leaders, speaks in front of the Alamo Wednesday Sept. 2, 2015 before a tour of the Alamo grounds. Bush was in San Antonio to celebrate the $31.5 million the General Land Office received to help preserve and develop the Alamo. less

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, backed by state and local elected leaders, speaks in front of the Alamo Wednesday Sept. 2, 2015 before a tour of the Alamo grounds. Bush was in San Antonio to celebrate ... more

Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, left, and his son George P. Bush were in Abilene on Oct. 14 to speak to supporters at Hardin-Simmons University.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, left, and his son George P. Bush were in Abilene on Oct. 14 to speak to supporters at Hardin-Simmons University.

Photo: LM Otero, STF

George P. Bush 'reboot' of land office has campaign, family ties

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AUSTIN - Less than a year after being elected to lead the oldest state agency in Texas, Land Commissioner George P. Bush has dramatically remade the General Land Office by ousting a majority of its longtime leaders and replacing many of them with people with ties to his campaign and family.

Eleven of the top 18 officials on the agency's organizational chart a year ago have been fired, forced out or quit, and more could leave soon under an ongoing overhaul that Bush has described as a "reboot."

In their place, Bush has given top jobs to two of his law school classmates, two relatives of members of two Bush presidential administrations and at least three others with ties to the family or other political leaders.

In all, Bush has hired at least 29 people who worked on his campaign or have political connections, according to a review of thousands of pages of personnel records. The agency did not advertise any of the openings publicly.

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State law requires all agencies considering external candidates for a job to post the opening with the Texas Workforce Commission. Newly elected statewide officials often ignore the requirement for some core positions - Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller already have been publicly criticized for doing it a handful of times this year - but Bush's hiring differs because of how far-reaching it has been, with the hires ranging from a temporary transition director to five campaign veterans hired permanently for the new position of "regional outreach coordinator."

Bush made many so-called "appointment hires" before even taking office but has continued them well into this year.

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Who won jobs that were not publicly advertised?

The following General Land Office employees got a job that was not publicly advertised as open. Those marked with a star (*) worked for Land Commissioner George P. Bush's campaign or have other ties to him, his family or other political leaders.

The General Land Office did not return messages seeking comment for this story. The agency, which was established in 1837, oversees all state public lands and leases mineral rights to oil and gas companies, generating billions of dollars for schools. Bush, a Republican, the grandson and nephew of presidents and son of current presidential candidate Jeb Bush, was elected last November.

Bush has said the reboot is needed to address "internal threats," such as overlapping job duties and a lack of accountability, and to set an example of conservative leadership by cutting the agency's budget by 10 percent.

The office also has said that most of the employees under former Commissioner Jerry Patterson have stayed under Bush.

Overall, about 500 people in the agency of roughly 600 have stayed, according to personnel records and interviews with former employees. Some of the 100 departed staffers have been replaced, and some have not.

Among the agency's top leadership, however, the changes have been more comprehensive.

A half-dozen of the leaders left just after Bush was sworn in early in January. Larry Laine, who as chief clerk was in charge of managing the agency's day-to-day operations, stepped down from the top job in May. This month, the agency ousted officials such as government relations director Susan Biles and agency spokesman Jim Suydam.

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The changes have lowered the average tenure among the top three dozens officials at the agency from 11 years to five years, according to an analysis of personnel records.

Of the 36 slots, just 11 are filled by the same people as when Bush was elected. Ten are new to the agency and six are new to their positions. Nine of the jobs currently are vacant.

Patterson said the turnover has "imploded" the agency.

The Republican, who held the job for 12 years, said the agency had been making record profits from its mineral lease sales and outperforming other agencies with its investments while increasingly being trusted with new responsibilities, such as the management of the Alamo.

"You don't lead by making change for the sake of change," Patterson said. "You don't lead by creating an atmosphere with all of the employees are hunkered down, waiting to be fired. You don't lead by demanding loyalty oaths. You don't lead with weekly purges."

Patterson added that the appointment hires he made after Bush was elected were at his successor's request.

Chapter 656 of Title 6B of the Texas Government Code prohibits appointments from outside of the agency except in cases of reorganization ordered by the Legislature.

"Any agency, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, court, department, institution, or office in the executive or judicial branch of state government that has an employment opening for which persons from outside the agency will be considered shall list the opening with the Texas Workforce Commission," the law states.

Workforce Commission spokeswoman Lisa Givens said she did not know who was responsible for enforcing that law. The commission does not check to ensure that jobs are posted, she said.

The Attorney General's Office referred questions about the law to the Workforce Commission.

Personnel records show that Bush has directed at least 40 external hires between November 2014 and July 2015 but listed only four of those with the Workforce Commission.

The average salary for those four jobs was about $65,000. The average salary for the 36 jobs that were not posted was about $90,000.

Ten jobs went to campaign aides, including temporary transition director, Trey Newton, who made $17,500 per month, and the five regional outreach coordinators, who are making annual salaries of $55,000. Newton, the campaign engineer Bush once called "our Karl Rove," left in January. He did not return a call seeking comment.

Another campaign strategist, Ash Wright, and his wife Patty Wright both got unposted jobs in December with annual salaries of $120,000 and $48,000, respectively. Both have left, with Ash Wright returning to Bush's campaign.

The campaign's spokesman, J.R. Hernandez, got a more permanent job as Bush's chief of staff, with an annual salary of $110,000. Hernandez, the son of George W. Bush adviser Juan Hernandez and a 2008 college graduate, started the job exactly a week after the election. The application in his personnel file is not signed or dated, and there is no offer letter, making it hard to determine a timeline of his employment.

Offer letters were missing from 13 of the personnel files reviewed by the Chronicle. In cases when they were included, they showed that job decisions for unposted positions were made quickly. For example, Becky Dinnin, who had worked for the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, applied for Alamo Division Director on Jan. 30 and received an offer letter that day.

Among the non-campaign-related hires with personal connections were a pair who, like Bush, graduated from the University of Texas law school in the spring of 2003: Hector Valle landed the job of special counsel with a $120,000 annual salary, while Brian Carter was named head of the asset management division, with a salary of $138,500.

No "appointment hire" has been more important than that of Anne Idsal, who was named general counsel last November and then quickly was promoted to chief clerk, the top job, with a salary of about $200,000. She graduated law school five years ago.

Idsal is the granddaughter of Anne Armstrong, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom and close adviser to President George H.W. Bush, and the daughter of Katharine Armstrong, a well-known Texas GOP donor.

Idsal's own résumé included a stint working for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn -- and an internship with for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign in 2004.